The 12-team playoff field has been set. There were some surprises (the Mets collapse allowing the upstart Cincinnati Reds to enter the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2013, the Brewers finishing with baseball’s best record, and the Tigers losing the AL Central to the Guardians to name a few), but on Tuesday, baseball’s maddening tournament begins.
The playoffs are a crapshoot. Oftentimes it is the team that is hottest, not the most talented, that ends up winning the Fall Classic. Other times, the Dodgers outspend everyone and bludgeon you to death with their talent.
Regardless of how things play out over the next few weeks, below is every playoff team’s most important player, a nearly impossible list to put together, given each team has about 5-7 “most important players.”
Nevertheless, here’s my crack at it.
Milwaukee Brewers: Quinn Priester (SP)
Freddy Peralta is the ace, but he can’t pitch every night. Much of Milwaukee’s success has come because Priester emerged as a quality No. 2 starter for the Brewers this season. Going into Friday night’s game against Cincinnati, the Brewers had won 19 straight games started by Priester, and he finished the season with a 3.32 ERA in 157.1 innings pitched, with a 132-to-50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In order to advance in a playoff series, you need someone who can reliably win Game 2 of a postseason series. Priester became that guy, and he’ll need to continue that effort for Milwaukee to reach their first World Series since 1982 and win the first-ever title for the team that finished with MLB’s best record in 2025.
Philadelphia Phillies: Jhoan Duran (RP)
Not Kyle Schwarber? Nope. Not Byrce Harper, huh? That’s right. Trea Turner? Christopher Sanchez? Ranger Suarez? Jesus Luzardo? Nope, no, uh uh and no dice. The most important player for the National League’s No. 2 seed is their new closer, Jhoan Duran. Acquired at the Trade Deadline by Dave Dombrowski, Duran is the first true closer the team has had since Rob Thomson took over as manager in 2022. From August 1 through September 13, Duran pitched 15.2 innings for the Phillies and posted a 1.15 ERA. He gave up runs in only two of his first 18 appearances with Philadelphia. Over his last five outings, his ERA is 5.40 and has allowed runs in three of those five appearances, with two blown saves. Phillies fans were scarred by Craig Kimbrel’s implosions in the 2023 NLCS and last year’s bullpen meltdown against the Mets in the NLDS. They desperately need their electric closer to channel 2008 Brad Lidge and be perfect this October.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani (DH/SP)
Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one. Ohtani was already guaranteed to win NL MVP this year after another stellar season at the plate, but it’s his emergence as the Dodgers’ best starting pitcher over the last two weeks that truly makes him the team’s most important player. L.A. had been bringing him along slowly following Tommy John surgery two years ago, allowing him to pitch more than five innings only for the first time in his last outing against the Diamondbacks. In his last two starts, against Philadelphia and Arizona, Ohtani was unhittable, with no runs allowed in 11 innings with 13 strikeouts and no walks. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell are likely starting Games 1 and 2 of a playoff series, but with Ohtani getting Game 3, the Dodgers will have to hope he can give them a little more length, given their atrocious bullpen. Oh, and he’ll need to keep hitting homers, too.
Chicago Cubs: Shota Imanaga (SP)
The Japanese left-hander, now in his second season with Chicago, has had an up-and-down season. On July 19, Imanaga was 7-3 with a 2.40 ERA but has struggled since then, with a 2-5 record in 12 games and an ERA of 5.17. Imanaga has been getting smoked by homers, allowing 20 of them in his last 12 outings, including in each of his last nine starts and seven in his last three. The Cubs’ rotation as a whole needs a boost, with Rookie of the Year candidate Cade Horton hitting the injured list on Saturday with a broken rib. The earliest he could return in the NLCS, should Chicago advance that far. The Cubs’ bullpen has improved, but they better hope their powerful offense hits a lot of dingers and that Imanaga can figure out a way to keep the ball in the yard.
San Diego Padres: Fernando Tatis, Jr. (OF)
Tatis Jr. is the Padres’ best player. It’s really that simple. The starting rotation is solid and their bullpen, with Mason Miller and Robert Suarez locking down the 8th and 9th innings, could make them exceedingly dangerous in a playoff series. Surprisingly, the offense has been the weakness of the team, despite having stars littered throughout. Tatis, however, has been outstanding all season, and he was terrific in the playoffs a year ago, hitting .667 in the wild card round against the Braves and .350 in the NLDS against the Dodgers. Manny Machado needs to also provide some pop at the top of the lineup.
Cincinnati Reds: Elly De La Cruz (SS)
It was a toss-up between de la Cruz and starting pitcher Hunter Greene, who returned from an injury this season and proceeded to put up a 2.76 ERA in 19 starts, throwing 100+ mph in the process. But if the Reds are going to do anything in the playoffs, their lone star player, the uber-talented De La Cruz, must lead the way. After a first half in which he put up an .854 OPS, he struggled in the second half, with an OPS under .700, a higher strikeout rate and lower walk rate. He’s hit just four home runs since the All Star Break after slugging 18 in the first half, although one of them came in the team’s final game on Sunday. Can De La Cruz wake up in time to help Cincinnati win a couple playoff games and, perhaps, their first series since the 1995 NLDS?
Toronto Blue Jays: Bo Bichette (SS)
After a massively disappointing 2024 season, Bichette bounced back in a huge way in ‘25, hitting .311/.357/.483 with 18 HRs, 94 RBIs and a 3.8 fWAR. He piled up 181 hits until three weeks ago, when he was forced to the Injured List with a bad knee. It’s unclear if Bichette will be ready for the start of Toronto’s playoff run, which could be a crippling blow for a team that needs its offense to carry the day. The Blue Jays’ starting rotation has baseball’s 20th best ERA (4.34) and a bullpen ERA that is 16th (4.03). Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alajandro Kirk all must take big steps forward this October, too, but the return of Bichette is critical to Toronto’s chances of winning their first title since 1993. Earning the bye past the wild card round certainly helps.
Seattle Mariners: Cal Raleigh (C)
The Mariners’ catcher is having the single greatest offensive season of any catcher in MLB history. He’s hit 60 HRs. He’s a switch hitter. He catches a ton of games, the most grueling position in baseball. Aaron Judge is probably going to win the MVP (more on him in a moment), but Raleigh has already set the record for most homers in a season by a switch-hitter and someone who is a primary catcher, as well as the Mariner’s all-time single-season home run record. Seattle’s starting rotation hasn’t been quite as good as everyone thought coming into the year, but the bullpen is solid. It’ll be interesting to see how Raleigh does in his first ever postseason and, if opposing managers pitch around him, how much damage teammates Eugenio Suarez, Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco can do.
Boston Red Sox: Garrett Crochet (SP)
I was tempted to go with the ridiculous season closer Aroldis Chapman is having. Now 37 years old, he saved 32 games in 61.1 innings with a 1.17 ERA. But Crochet is the Red Sox’ most important player. The likely AL Cy Young Award winner was acquired at a huge price over the off-season in a trade from the White Sox, but Crochet’s 2.59 ERA, 11.18 K/9 and 205.1 innings pitched paced an unexpected Boston run to the AL’s second wild card. This is a fun team, with a lot of fun players in the lineup every day and some interesting arms after Crochet, too. Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello make for interesting Game 2 and 3 starters in a postseason series, but Crochet is the horse they will ride if they go deep into October.
Cleveland Guardians: Gavin Williams (SP)
Future Hall of Fame third baseman Jose Ramirez is Cleveland’s best player, but the most important player on the team this October is their unexpected ace, Gavin Williams, who has emerged in the second half as their rock in the rotation. In 12 starts since the All Star Break, Williams is 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA, striking out 27.6% of hitters and allowing a batting average of just .188. He came within two outs of a no-hitter against the Mets back in August, and in a huge game against the Tigers last week, Williams went six innings and gave up just two runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts and two walks against Detroit. Every team needs an ace in the playoffs, and Williams has become that for the upstart Guardians.
New York Yankees: Aaron Judge (OF)
He’s the best hitter baseball has seen since the heyday of Barry Bonds. He’s a 10-to-11 win player every year. He hits well over .300, gets on base 45% of the time, and in his last five seasons has hit 52, 58, 37, 62 and 39 home runs. He’s scored 135 runs with 111 RBIs. He’s going to win MVP over a switch-hitting catcher who bashed 60 homers this season. There is no one more important to any team in baseball than Judge to the Yankees.
Detroit Tigers: Spencer Torkelson (1B)
When Torkelson made his MLB debut in 2022 as one of the most heralded prospects in the game, it was assumed he’d be a star right away. He did better in his second season, 2023, with 31 HRs and 94 RBIs, but was awful last year, hitting .219/.295/.374 in just 92 games. But the 25-year-old first baseman had his best season in the big leagues this season, with 31 HRs, a .795 OPS and career-best WAR of 2.4. Detroit’s collapse down the stretch has been epic, but they were saved by the third wild card and will get a chance to redeem themselves in the tournament. Torkelson will need teammate Riley Greene and a pitching staff that’s leaking oil to grab some duct tape and figure out a way to at least match last season’s playoff run to the ALDS.